Ninth Circuit

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.05.19

* Okay, fine, whatever, the Trump administration is apparently going to look for a way to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. We're governing by tweet these days, and this is the latest information on this debacle. [Washington Post] * And it looks like the way President Trump is thinking of adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census is through an executive order. The Justice Department has until this afternoon to straighten this out. [ABC News] * Nope, you still can't use money that was supposed to go to the Defense Department to build a border wall. The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction on the use of these military funds just before the holiday. [Los Angeles Times] * Which Biglaw firms have received the most money from presidential candidates’ 2020 election campaigns? As you might have guessed, lawyers from Jones Day have gotten a lot to Republicans, and lawyers from Perkins Coie have gotten a lot to the Democrats. [National Law Journal] * Prosecutors have dropped the manslaughter charge filed against an Alabama woman who was five months pregnant and lost her unborn child after being shot in the stomach. Congratulations, Alabama! Way to be normal! [CBS News] * If you’re interested in going to law school, you should know that the average debt for the class of 2018 was pretty hefty at $115,481 — that’s $130,900 for private school graduates and $89,962 for public school graduates. Good luck paying it off! [Nerdwallet] * Matthew Benedict, a student at Buffalo Law, RIP. [New York Law Journal]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.19.19

* Hope Hicks, Donald Trump‘s former communications director, will testify today before the House Judiciary Committee, which is leading an investigation into the president’s possible obstruction of justice. The closed-door hearing could last all day. Let’s see how this one goes... [Reuters] * Thanks to some intervention by the DOJ, it looks like Paul Manafort won’t be going to Rikers after all. He’ll remain in federal custody during his state proceedings. [ABC News] * In the wake of the Kozinski sexual harassment scandal, the Ninth Circuit has hired a workplace relations director and adopted some meaningful changes to its dispute resolution policy and its confidentiality policy. Plus, communications skills training will be mandatory all employees, including judges. [Big Law Business] * In case you missed it, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg won the Best Real-Life Hero at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. She was also nominated in the Best Fight category for her fight against inequality, but lost to Captain Marvel's fight against Minn-Erva. [The Hill] * A student from Florida A&M Law has filed suit against the school, claiming that FAMU didn’t respond appropriately after an admissions counselor allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed her. We’ll have more on this later. [Daily Business Review]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.28.19

* Law firm diversity score cards are here, and.... African-American lawyers are still not being represented. Yikes. [Law.com] * Judge Kozinski may be gone from the Ninth Circuit, but it is still hard work to change the culture there. [Big Law Business] * Oakland is the second city looking to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms. Plan your vacations accordingly. [The Hill] * In a continuing embarrassment to NYC, Rudy Giuliani wants a new role in the 2020 Trump campaign. [Politico] * 5 firms have been cut out of the NFL concussion case. [Law360] * Ted Wells for the defense, in New Jersey tax incentives case. [National Law Journal] * Will New York strengthen sexual harassment laws? Well, maybe. But at least they're having hearing on the issue. [New York Law Journal]

By Kathryn Rubino
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.27.19

* Attorney General William Barr says he plans to make a version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report available to Congress and the public within a matter of weeks, and apparently the White House won't be receiving a copy in advance of the release. [Wall Street Journal] * Speaking of the Mueller report, Rudy Giuliani says he wouldn't have any issues with releasing Trump’s written testimony that was submitted to Mueller. Jay Sekulow would beg to differ. [Washington Examiner] * The EU approved the controversial Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive, a new IP law that will govern the way copyrighted material is uploaded online and who will be liable for infringement. At least memes are exempt? [BBC News] * Congratulations to Bridget Bade, who was just confirmed to the Ninth Circuit. She's the 37th circuit court judge to be appointed by President Trump, who is changing the makeup of the federal judiciary, one conservative judge at a time. [Big Law Business] * Elon Musk must appear in court next week for a contempt hearing over his Tesla tweets against self-interest that are allegedly in breach of his settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. [CNN] * Your bracket may be busted, but this Biglaw associate has a near-perfect track record. She's gotten 46 out of 48 matchups right thus far, and at one point she was one of just eight people in the country with a perfect bracket. [American Lawyer]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non Sequiturs: 02.03.19

* How have personnel changes at the Supreme Court affected the dynamics at oral argument? Adam Feldman offers this analysis. [Empirical SCOTUS] * Ed Whelan expresses relief over the White House's new slate of Ninth Circuit nominations. [Bench Memos / National Review] * Can President Trump declare a "national emergency" in order to build his beloved wall? The National Emergencies Act is not a blank check, according to Brianne Gorod. [Take Care] * Should Congress pass a "deepfakes" law? Orin Kerr has some concerns. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason] * What's going on with Rudy Giuliani? Joel Cohen has a theory. [The Hill] * Jean O'Grady is pleased to see all the competition in the legal analytics space (with Precedent Analytics from Thomson Reuters as the newest entrant) -- but she'd like to see more support for the competing claims of the different products. [Dewey B Strategic] * News organizations need stricter and better guidelines when interviewing mentally ill defendants, according to former public defender Stephen Cooper. [The Tennessean] * Have questions about the fast-approaching February bar exam? Ashley Heidemann has answers. [JD Advising]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.22.18

* Remember how Trump promised that he'd "fight for" the transgender community while he was campaigning? Perhaps he meant that he'd fight to erase them. The Trump administration is reportedly considering defining sex under Title IX "based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth." [New York Times] * Democratic senators in Washington are refusing to return their blue slips for Perkins Coie partner Eric Miller, a Ninth Circuit nominee, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is pissed. Slow your roll, Chuck. I thought we didn't care about blue slips anymore? [The Recorder] * About half of lawyers in the United Kingdom say they're not ready to deal with Brexit. That's okay. The United Kingdom isn't ready to deal with Brexit either -- and 40 percent of lawyers think their Biglaw firms will try to escape the UK because of it. [Am Law International] * In case you missed it, Paul Manafort showed up at the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday afternoon in a wheelchair, citing health concerns as his attorney requested an expedited sentencing date. Manafort seems to have gotten what he wanted, and will be sentenced there on February 8. [National Law Journal] * During his inauguration speech, the University of Virginia's new president, James Ryan -- a UVA Law graduate who once worked as a UVA law professor -- pledged that tuition would be free for students whose families earned less than $80,000 a year. We wonder if that applies to law school tuition as well. [WTTF Fox 5]

By Staci Zaretsky
Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 08.12.18

* Thanks to the not-so-orphaned Kennedy clerks, this Term could see a record number of clerks at the Supreme Court, as Tony Mauro reports. [National Law Journal] * Speaking of clerks, I talk quite a bit about them and their role in this interview with Kaley Pillinger about my writing career (from Underneath Their Robes to Above the Law to Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link)). [The Politic] * Speaking of SCOTUS, and more specifically of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the high court, Ed Whelan responds to the arguments of Senate Democrats against -- yes, against -- the prompt provision of records from Kavanaugh’s years as White House counsel. [Bench Memos / National Review] * If Judge Kavanaugh becomes Justice Kavanaugh, how will that affect the Court's business jurisprudence? Adam Feldman has this analysis. [Empirical SCOTUS] * The failure of Ryan Bounds's Ninth Circuit nomination could be a "teachable moment" for Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), according to Will Folks. [FITSNews] * Speaking of disappointing failures to confirm, Paul Mirengoff shares my frustration over the inexcusable delays in Department of Justice confirmations. [Power Line] * It's unfair to dismiss Seinfeld as "a show about nothing"; episodes offer insight into numerous legal issues -- for example, the law of conspiracy. [Seinfeld Law] * Kal Raustiala and Christopher Jon Sprigman offer interesting reflections on how data-driven authorship might affect the way we think about creativity and copyright. [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason] * If you're interested in litigation finance, there's a conference coming up next month here in New York that you might want to check out. [LF Dealmakers Forum]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.25.18

* Lanny Davis, lawyer to Michael Cohen, was instrumental in leaking the Trump/McDougal tape to CNN last night. It's now official: Cohen has turned on Donald Trump. Listen to it here. [CNN] * Michael Avenatti, lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels, says he's interested in discussing a settlement with Michael Cohen about his client's "hush agreement" to keep quiet about her 2006 affair with Trump. Avenatti says a meeting was scheduled, then canceled by Cohen's other lawyer, and now they're calling each other liars. This is all par for the course. [CNN] * A split three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Second Amendment allows the open carrying of guns in public. This comes two years after the court ruled that the Second Amendment did not allow the concealed carrying of guns in public. You can expect this to be appealed to the Ninth Circuit en banc. [Associated Press] * Dentons has come out swinging with denials against a sexual harassment case that was filed by a business development specialist last month, claiming that not only is the suit without merit, but that it also "misappropriates" the #MeToo movement. We'll have more on thisinteresting development later today. [American Lawyer] * If you live in a two-lawyer household, should you be sharing client secrets? The Ohio Supreme Court is about to answer that question for us, since there's apparently no case on the books about anything remotely like this. [Big Law Business] * If you're thinking about applying to law school ahead of a career in politics, then you may have to work a little harder to -- wait, nevermind, you can go to pretty much any law school since having a J.D. seems to be the gateway to government. [U.S. News]

By Staci Zaretsky